Yeah that's a common thing with Zimmer. He's scored about 3-5 projects a year and sometimes more. According to his site it says the projects he's scored or yet scored this year (besides MOS, Rush, TLR) 12 Years A Slave, Mr. Morgan's Last Love, The Bible (Miniseries), and Winter's Tale. That's 7 projects. Plus composers besides Zimmer have scored 2 or more projects for example, Elfman scored about 6 movies last year , Beltrami scored (or is about to score) 6 or 7 movies this year. It's a common thing for some film composers to do.

That was Shirley Walker, who I personally believe is the best Batman composer of all time. Sure, originally, she took what Elfman did for the Batman theme and built off of it for the origional opening and closing credits sequences for BTAS, but when she came up with her own Batman theme later on, it is bar none, the greatest Batman theme of all time. Heroic and triumphant, yet also gothic and tragic.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no question. Walker's Batman theme (which, as you say, is the theme that appeared in the series itself, as opposed to the opening), and her work in general in the DCUA, is the definitive Batman "sound."

Her theme was versatile, too having several iterations over the years. There were adventurous versions, like that featured in the intro for the Batman & Robin retitling of the series, but it could also be oppressively dark, as in Mask of the Phantasm.

Certainly I don't diminish the work of Zimmer and Elfman at all; they both provided exceptional material that is undeniably Batman though. Though, when I really think about what strikes the cord the most with me, it's the theme from the animated series--indeed, the animated series is the definitive interpretation of the character in many respects.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no question. Walker's Batman theme (which, as you say, is the theme that appeared in the series itself, as opposed to the opening), and her work in general in the DCUA, is the definitive Batman "sound."

Her theme was versatile, too having several iterations over the years. There were adventurous versions, like that featured in the intro for the Batman & Robin retitling of the series, but it could also be oppressively dark, as in Mask of the Phantasm.

Certainly I don't diminish the work of Zimmer and Elfman at all; they both provided exceptional material that is undeniably Batman though. Though, when I really think about what strikes the cord the most with me, it's the theme from the animated series--indeed, the animated series is the definitive interpretation of the character in many respects.

Agreed on all points. Loved Zimmer and Elfman's work as well, but Walker always sneaks ahead for me. The use of the choir vocals in Phantasm is just stunning. I'd love for the next composer to take inspiration from that. Go for a more gothic and operatic sound for Batman - in the Walker vein. It would be suitably different from either Elfman or Zimmer's past work.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no question. Walker's Batman theme (which, as you say, is the theme that appeared in the series itself, as opposed to the opening), and her work in general in the DCUA, is the definitive Batman "sound."

Her theme was versatile, too having several iterations over the years. There were adventurous versions, like that featured in the intro for the Batman & Robin retitling of the series, but it could also be oppressively dark, as in Mask of the Phantasm.

Certainly I don't diminish the work of Zimmer and Elfman at all; they both provided exceptional material that is undeniably Batman though. Though, when I really think about what strikes the cord the most with me, it's the theme from the animated series--indeed, the animated series is the definitive interpretation of the character in many respects.

TAS kind of had it all. Great scores, a great animation style, generally good animation, strong voice actors, deep and nuanced episodes AS WELL as more traditional action/adventure oriented ones.

I always enjoyed that Zimmer's "A Dark Knight" suite that was used in TDK and TDKR had shades of Walker's TAS theme. Maybe it's just me but I always heard it. Could've been a subconscious thing since he worked on MOTP.

But I agree, Walker's theme is the ultimate Batman theme. Elfman's is a great action march and it captures the darknes and excitement of Batman, but Walker's manages to simultaneously capture the tragedy and the triumph/hope with the two different ways she resolves the theme. It's really brilliant. I think some of Zimmer's work manages to do that too, but in a less lyrical way obviously. Walker's theme might very well be my favorite superhero theme of all time, even above Williams' Superman march.

That said, I do believe that Elfman's "Finale" is one of the best Batman cues ever and it's a shame that it was never reprised beyond Batman 89. They always used it in the trailers for the Shumacher films to make them seem better than they were though.

What's next?
I've just started on "Interstellar," Christopher Nolan's movie, in bits and pieces. I started it in January, but now I really have to go and pay attention. Then I have another little something coming up, but they don't want me to talk about it yet. Then, you know, comes that pesky question. I thought I was done with Batman. I have to think about that. I have to think about how that fits into what I want to do next.

Do you have an open invitation from Warner Bros. to return for "Man of Steel 2"?
It's not really like that. I think it's really important for everybody to always take a deep breath and have a think about it. "Do we really want to embark on this journey?" Because the question really is: Do I have anything new to say? Is there anything I could add that I haven't done already? When we did "Batman Begins," we saw that as an autonomous movie. We never knew we were going to do two and three. Everybody thinks, "Oh, of course you did!" If you think about it, though, we never knew. Like, in "Lord of the Rings," everyone knew that the little guy was going to throw the ring in the volcano. We never had that. At the same time, of course, my mandate was treat each one as an autonomous movie, but you can't shift stylistically quite that much. The fun thing is if you can shift stylistically, that's what you want to do. For better or for worse, you want to reinvent yourself every time. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I like Zimmer's work on "iconic" stuff when he just retools the existing excellent themes.

Like this, this is what he did for Lone Ranger (William Tell Overture):

('dem trumpets! )

Imagine what he could do were he allowed to use the REAL Superman theme by John Williams and the awesome Danny Elfman Batman. I think he'd do a good job. I wish they'd just let him do that.

Even his "retooling" of James Horner's Amazing Spider-Man soundtrack for TASM2 trailer sounded good.

He's just not so hot on his own, IMO, and sometimes you reach a point where a better theme for a character will NOT be written, IMO, so it is entirely okay, IMO, that the best Superman and Batman themes have already been written.